A Sweets Story
by sldlovestv18
Summary: The story of Sweets before the FBI. Starting with his adoption. Warning, very corny and there is langue and graphic nightmares later in the story. Disclaimer: Bones is not mine. R&R!
1. Chapter 1

Elizbeth and Ben Finnley walked into the orphanage, equal parts excited and equal parts scaried. The couple had come to adopt a child, a boy they think because Ben had always wanted a son. When the couple got married, they were both young and vibrate and were eager to start a family of their own but after a tragic stint with cervical cancer Elizabeth was rendered infertal. They could never have kids of thier own. They threw themselves into thier work, they traveled and watched thier neices and nephews grow up but they were still missing something. So here thy are, so many years later, at an orphanage. To pick some lucky child to take home with them and make part of thier family.

"Hello?" Elizabeth tapped a woman on the shoulder.

"Wha- Oh! Hello! You must be the Finnleys! They said you would be coming. I'm Sara Rodgers and I'll be helping you through the adoption process. Come this way, the kids are over here." She shook thier hands and lead them over to a different room. They walked in and saw kids of all shapes and colors playing with old toys and yammering away. A few came up and introduced themseves but they didnt seem right to them. Suddenly one caught Mrs. Finnley's eye.

"Who is that?" She asked, pionting over to the little boy, who looked to be four years old. He was sitting on a worn yellow beanbag chair by a small bookshelf in the corner of the room. The child had brown, wavy hair and seemed extremely into the book he was reading, it was a rather thick book for a kid his age, she noticed. What use would a child that small have with a book like that?

"Oh, thats just Lance. I don't think you want him. I mean he is a very sweet child but, um, you see he was put in a... bad home." Sara hestitated a second. "The foster father beat him pretty bad. Whipped him. He has got some really nasty looking scars forming on the backs of his shoulders. He has been having trouble in school and with the other children, and its a shame because he's a nice boy and he used to be so social but lately, I don't know, he has been pushing away. His shrink cant get through to him. If progress isn't made soon... I just don't know." She sighed and shook his head.

"I'm going to talk to him." Elizabeth decided with a nod, head over to the boy. Sara went to stop her, but was stopped by Ben.

"Don't." He laughed, looking proud. "When she wants to do something there's no stopping her." Elizabeth went over and sat in the red beanbag chair next to Lance. Her heart ached for this child. Who could be so cruel to such a precious child? He didn't seem to notice her presence beside him.

"Hello?" She asked softly, making him jump slightly in his seat. Her heart twinged in sadness. The child glanced at her for a second before looking away. "My name is Elizabeth, whats yours?" Another glance, no response. "You like that book?" She smiled when he nodded shly. "Mind telling me what its about?" Her mind swam in confustion when he sat the book aside and held a small, shakey hand out to her.

"H-hi, I-I-I'm L-lance. Lance Sweets." The child mumbled, still holding the hand out but still not making any eye contact.

"Hello, its nice to meet you." She smiled and gently shook the hand. "How old are you?"

"S-six." He stuttered, squirming in his seat. Her eyebrows shot up in confusion. He was that old? But he was so small and looked so young. He seemed to pick up on her confusion. "I know I'm small."

"Oh! Oh no, itsno problem, dear. Why don't you tell me about yourself?" She got a head shake but he finally looked at her and it nearly broke her heart. He had large brown eyes, they were intelligent, beautiful eyes. You coud see his whole life vibrating through his eyes. All the happiness, sadness, all the pain, it projected through his eyes and it broke her heart.

"Don't cry." Lance squeaked, crawling up onto her lap and putting a hand on her face. She wiped at he eyes, realizing she had been crying.

"I'm sorry, you didn't do anything. I just... can I hug you?" He look surpised for a second before looking down. After a second he looked at herwith thse those big beaufitiful eyes again and nodded slightly. She carefully and softy wrapped her arms around the boy, who didnt make any motion to hug her back.

"Wow." Sara said, watching with wide eyes as she hugged him. "Lance has never bonded with someone that quickly before."

"My Lizzy is very special." Ben chuckled proudly. "She can make friends with just about anyone."

"Yes, but will he bond with YOU?"

"What do you mean?" He asked, confusion flashing onto his face.

"I mean, Lance has a distrust in men because... well..." Sara glanced to the side.

"I get it." Ben sighed, shaking his head. "Well, I think Liz has dug her heels in on this one! This is going to be hard."

"Yes sir, it is."

AUTHORS NOTE:

I know this is corny. Im sorry but I have to do it. A Sweets' life story story. starting from his adoption. Please dont throw rocks. I'm sorry this chapter is so short, its just the intro.


	2. bond

After a minute, Elizabeth let go of Lance and he crawled out of her lap and back into his beanbag chair. He crossed his legs at his ankles and put his hands on his knees and looked shly away from the her. If one squinted you could almost see a smallest bit of a smile on his smooth, baby-face. Little Lance liked this woman. She seemed different then most of the people that pasted through here, but in a good way. He had heard somewhere that when people came to adopt that they always knew which child was meant for them. Could that work the other way around? Lance pushed the thought from his head, no one ever wanted to adopt him, especially now that he was damaged.

"You like to read?" Elizabeth asked, pionting at the book he had sat aside.

"A little, I have already read all these books though." Lance glanced at the bookself before looking back at ground.

"Wow, you must be really smart then." She grinned at the boy before frowning when he shook his head.

"Not really... I'm doing real bad in school. My classmates think I'm defective but my teacher says I just need to apply myself." Lance gave a little half shrug. "I dunno, maybe I'm just a dumb bookworm."

"Oh... oh no, I'm sure your really sharp." She carefully went and ruffled his his gently. "You just need a push in the right direction is all."

"You really think so?" Lance glanced up at her for a moment, hope flashed behind his big brown orbs.

"Yes I do, I can tell your something special." Elizabeth gave him a warm smile and he blushed slightly.

"No one has ever told me that before." Lance bit the inside of his lip to keep himself from smiling. This had to be a dream, or a prank or something because this was too good to be true.

"Say, um." Elizabeth hestitated a moment before decided to go for it. "Lance, would you like to meet my husband?"

"Y-you have a-a-a husband?" He said in almost a squeak. She had a husband. He didn't have a good track record with male foster parents.

"Yes, we came here to adopt." She smiled and pionted to the man talking to Mrs. Rodgers. "I think he will like you. He's always wanted a little boy." She frowned when Lance shook his head rapidly and shuddered.

"N-n-n-no! N-no!" Lance stuttered, his eyes filling with fear.

"Woah, calm down, sweetie." She cooed softly, reaching out gently to comfort him and he pushed her hand away. Lance shoulders started to shake and his breathing was starting become sharp. Before Elizabeth knew it she was leadaway from Lance while a few of the staff members tried to calm the child down.

"I'm sorry about that." Sara sighed, pulling the couple from the room. "I forgot to tell you, Lance is... a special needs child. We think his trauma has given him some sort of panic disorder. I apoligize, we can look at some other-"

"I want him." Elizabeth cut her off, looking stern.

"But Mrs. Finnley-"

"No buts. I want him. He is so sweet and precious and smart. He needs me and my husband." Elizabeth smiled, looking to be imagining something. "He is our baby, I can tell, and he has such a bright future ahead of him! I can see it in his eyes!" She turned to her husband. "You should see his eyes, honey, he has the biggest, most gorgious brown eyes!"

"I'm sure he does." Ben smiled at her, shaking his head. "Sorry, Miss Sara, but she has dug her heels in."

"Well there is the issue of his fear of men and his panic disorder-"

"We can handle it." Elizabeth insisted with a nod. "I just need him to meet Ben. Please, thats all I need."

"Okay... I'll talk to him." Sara sighed and walked back into the room.

"You sure about this, Liz?" Ben asked her softly.

"I'm more than sure." She smiled at him, shaking her head softly.

"Well then thats all I need." Ben smiled softly back at her.

"He is so sweet, Ben." She whispered softy, stepping closer to Ben. "He is the sweetest and he is so smart. He loves to read. I know its crazy, I know it is but... his eyes, honey, his eyes. You can see his whole life in his eyes. He was hurt so bad. Who could someone do that to him?" She looked up at him with sad eyes.

"I don't know, Liz." Ben frowned and sighed, shaking head and giving his wife a hug. She hugged him back breifly before they heard the door open and seperated. Sara stepped into the room, a small and shaken Lance hiding behind her legs. Lance peaked out from behind her legs and looked at Ben for a second before hiding again.

"It's okay, Lance, Mr. Finnley won't hurt you." Sara cooed softly, stepping out from infront of him. Lance made a squeak sound and looked down at the ground.

"Lance, this is my husband, Ben." Elizabeth smiled at Lance.

"H-h-hi." He whispered in a squeak, shuffling his feet and looking anywhere but at Ben.

"Let me try." Ben whispered to Elizabeth before crouching down by Lance and smiled at him. "Hi, kiddo, I'm Ben." He held a hand out for him to shake. Lance flinched when he did so. He clentched his eyes shut, scrunched up his shoulders and held his breath but when he unscrewed his eyes he saw that Ben was still crouched there, smiling softly and holding out a hand. He looked down at the hand and back up to Ben.

'Liz was right about them eyes.' Ben thought to himself. Lance stared down Ben, but not in a creepy way, for a good minute. He looked down at the hand again. He reached for Ben's hand with his small shaking one and shook it.

"I-I'm Lance." Lance said softly, giving a small smile and showing one of his dimples.

"By God." Sara whispered to herself, shaking her head. "They bonded."

AUTHORS NOTE:

It's short, I know, and its sorta piontless, I know. It's opening up for the next part. I'll try to do better with chapter length.


	3. Winter break

Lance stepped into the house slowly, looking around the house slowly as he pulled in his little fluurried in behind him and stuck in his curly locks and the back of his shirt. The Finnleys walked in behind him and shut the door behind them. He was spending Winter Break with the Finnleys as a sort of test run. A whole two weeks.

He looked around at his had a nice house, as fa as any the houses he had stayed in goes, but that would make sense because Elizabeth had told him she had already retired, so she had lot of time to make the house look nice. She was a school teacher, which Lance thought was cool. Maybe she could help him out with school. He didn't like school very much, the work was so simple he didn't really feel the need to do it. A lot people just said he was to stupid to do it. These people looked well enough off, maybe they could get him into one of those nice schools, if he got better grades.

Then he could get away from Molly. Molly was a girl in his class, they call her the human building because she is twice the size of the average first grader. She had crush on him, said he was cute, and liked the carry him around places. Dimples be damned.

"Do you like the house, Lance?" Mrs. Finnely asked, smiling gently at him.

"Yeah, it's pretty neat..." He mumbled, glancing here and there.

"You want to see your room, sport?" Ben asked, giving Lance a pat on the back.

"Sure." Lance nodded and the couple led him over to a door before opening it for him. The room was decently sized and the walls were a dull beige color. There was a hardwood desk/bookself that was viod of any materials or books. There as a twin sized bed with a plain white comforter. Lance went and left his bed bag by the door before going over and sitting on the bed. He wiggled his bottom as sat down, as if he was trying to get comfortable.

"Sorry that the room is so bland, sweetie, we can decorate it if- when- we adopt you." Elizabeth said, walking up and sitting next to him.

"It's okay." Lance said quietly, kicking his feet out. "I like it, it's roomy."

"Great." Ben grinned, jioned the other two on the bed. "We are going to have fun these two weeks."

"We are?" Lance questioned with a quirked brow.

"Yes, we are." He ruffled the six yearold's hair. "I have the next two weeks off, and you get to have Christmas as with us! Maybe Santa will leave you something."

"You think so?" Lance looked up at him, hope sparkling in his big brown eyes. Damn those eyes.

"I do." Ben smiled at him and pat his head again, flatting Lance's hair down. He had to contian his laughter as the child scowled and rapidly fixed his hair.

"Santa didn't bring me anything bring me anything last year because I was bad." Lance bit his lip and looked down at the ground. Elizabeth and Ben exchanged looks.

"I'm sure you were good," Elizabeth murmured, gently placing a hand on the child's small shoulder, "maybe Santa just missed your house."

"Maybe." He bit down harder on his lip.

"Hey, Lance, you know there are two boys in this neighborhood who are your age, maybe you should play with them sometime." Ben said, in a attempt to derail the conversation.

"I dunno..." Lance squirmed on the spot. "I don't get along with other kids so much."

"They are just jelious that they aren't as handsome as you." Elizabeth cooed and kissed his cheek.

"Awh, Mom!" Lance groaned and rubbed the spit away before realizing what he said and blushed. "Sorry."

Truth be told, he really liked Elizabeth. Over the last three months she had visited him frequently. She read with him and helped him with his homework. She had even taught him to tie his shoes. He had heard that those were all things mothers did.

"It's okay, sweetheart." Elizabeth smiled at Lance. Her heart fluttered when he called her Mom. "How about I make some hot cocoa while you get comfortable here?" Lance nodded and the elderly couple left.

#################################################################################

Overnight it had snowed two inches. Lance was excited to get out and play in the snow. He was normally a very quiet child but seriously, who didn'tlike playing in the snow? Luckily he had enough clothes to bundle up in. Elizabeth got him dressed and sent him out into the snow, promising hot chocolate when he upon his return. He ran out into the snow and plopped down onto the ground before laying down and closing his eyes as he made a snowangel. When he opened his eyes there was a boy standing over him. He yelped and scrambled away, effectively ruining his snowangel.

"Who are you!?" Lance squeaked at the boy. The boy had dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. He had on a dark blue hat and scarf and a thick black jacket.

"Calm down, goofy, I'm not going to bite you!" The boy snorted before holding out a hand to Lance. "I'm Ken, but you can call me Kenny. I live next door. You're the kid the Finnleys want to take in, right?"

"Y-yeah." Lance took the hand and let Kenny help him up before shaking the hand. "I'm Lance Sweets."

"Sweets?" Kenny snorted, trying to contain his giggles.

"I know it's silly." Sweets blushed.

"No, no, it's cool." Kenny smiled. "Do you wanna play?"

"I-" Lance started before he was smacked in side of the head with a snowball. Hard. He fell down to the ground and gripped his head tightly.

"Robert, you jerk, you hit the new kid!" Kenny glared over at the attacker, a boy with brown hair andd icy blue eyes.

"I told you not to call me that!" Robert snapped. "It's Bob, Ken Doll."

"And I told you to stop calling me Ken Doll so I guess your out of luck." Kenny looked down at Lance. "I think your really hurt him." He knelt down beside Lance, who was shaking and hyperventalating.

"He's just being a baby." Bob scowled, walking over.

"You hit him too hard!" Kennyy snapped, shoving Robert. Robert shoved back and coas insued. When Elizabeth came outside she saw Ken and Robert wrestling around on the ground and Lance laying, shaking, in the snow.

"What on earth happened!?"

#############################################################################

After calming Lance down, Elizabeth talked to the other parents. She explained that Lance had reacted the way that he did because he was still recovering emotionaly from being abused and reacted badly with conflict and pain. The other parents were shocked but warned their children to be careful with Lance from now on.

"Sweetheart, you have guests." Elizabeth smiled at Lance, who was curled up in a blanket and drinking hot chocolate. He looked up and saw Bob and Kenny.

"Hi, Lance, you okay now?" Kenny asked with a smile.

"Yeah, sorry you saw that." Lance blushed.

"S'okay, man," Bob shrugged, "I prolly shouldn't have ambushed you like that."

"Speaking of which, Robert has something to say to you." Kenny nodded towards Bob and gave the boy a look.

"Do I have to?" Bob whined, slumping his shoulders. "He seems okay now!"

"DUDE."

"Okay, okay." Bob held his hands up in surrender before looking at the ground. "I'm sorry... that I threw that snowball too hard... or whatever..."

"It's okay." Lance said softly, looking up from his cocoa. "You prolly didn't mean it."

"Oh, he meant it." Kenny smirked. "Robert is a jerk."

"Hey!" Bob fumed, face red.

"You two are are weird." Lance wrinkled his nose.

"Yeah, but we pull it off." Kenny snorted before walking over and sitting by Lance. "So... What do you like to do?"

"Read." Lance said softly, not making eye contact. "You?"

"I like to do lots of stuff." Kenny smiled, swinging his feet back and forth. "Play games, run- Hey, do you know how to climb trees?"

"Um, yeah." Lance mumbled, shrugging his shoulders up to hide himself. He had noticed the other boy had left, why was this one still here? When was he going to leave? It would be soon, right?

"You don't talk much, do you?" Kenny smiled with a tilt of the head. Lance shook his head in response. "That's okay, dude, it's cool."

"Do you... want something?"

"No... well, it was nice meeting you, Lance, hope to see you soon!" Kenny said before leaving, sensing Lance's uncomfortableness.

##################################################################################

Lance sat in the living room, curled up in a blanket. He was watching a documentary on TV about something he didn't really care for, primarily because he wasn't really watching it. His mind was very preoccupied with thought. It was almost Christmas, tomorrow was Christmas Eve. There was a tree up and everything. He never really had a very festive holiday traditions, for obvious reasons. He was very curious as to whether the Finnleys would get him anything.

Would Santa stop by this year? He didn't last year. _He_ said it was because he was a bad child , who didn't mind his elders. Yet his social worker told him it was because Santa hadn't gotten his adress yet, leaving him confused. Had he been good enough this year for Santa? He didn't know. Did Santa know he was with the FInnleys? He wasn't sure.

"Elizabeth?" Lance asked as the woman walked into the room, something in her hand that he couldn't indentify.

"Yes, Lance?" Mrs. Finnley smiled at him.

"Do you think Santa will stop here this year?" Lance asked softly, looking down and fiddling with his blanket.

"Well of course he is." Elizabeth went and sat down by Lance. "Look, I even made you this for when he comes." She said, sitting the item in her hands in his hands into his smaller ones. He examined it carefully. It was a red stocking with his name written in golden glitter glue at the top in cursive. There was a snowman and snowflakes drawn in white glitter glue on the red section.

"A stocking?" Lance asked, running his fingers softly over the design.

"YOUR stocking." She smiled at him. "For when Santa comes."

"Really?" He smiled slightly, tipping his head up at her.

"Mhm, want to help me hang it up?" Elizabeth asked and he nodded in reply. The two went and hung Lance's stocking up on the fireplace between Elizabeth and Ben's stocking.

"Wow." Lance smiled up at the stocking.

"Yeah, it is pretty neat, huh?" Elizabeth ruffled his hair. "Ben is going to be home with your gifts soon, so I need you to go upstairs, alright, sweetheart?"

"Yes mam'." The boy nodded and dashed upstairs and Elizabeth let out a sigh.

She had been worried about Lance. He had nightmares most nights and Ben and her tried to help him but most of the time it didn't help much. Lance still seemed distant. After the snowball incidient Lance hadn't left the house. He did seem to smile more often, always soft, small smiles but they were still there. She could still see the pain in his little eyes most days but he seemed happier to be staying with wondered what was going on in his little head most days. What did he think of them? Did he think about... that dreadful man that had hurt him so bad? She wasn't sure. Lance still hadn't warmed up to Ben completely yet, but he was getting there.

"Hey, Liz." Ben smiled, walking in with his arms full of bags.

"Hello, Ben, you got the rest of his presents?" Elizabeth smiled at her husband.

"Sure did." Ben said, sitting the bags down on the floor. "How was he today?"

"He watched some TV, ate a little, helped me fold some laundry, but he still hasn't gone outside." Elizabeth sighed and ran a hand through her gray locks.

"He'll warm up eventually, Liz, he just needs time."

"I know but we only we only had a few days left in the visit and he still hasn't become completely comfortable. We are running out of time. I don't want to lose Lance, he is ours. I can tell when I look at him." She rubbed her face with both hands.

"I know." Ben nodded and rubbed her shoulder. "He will warmup. He loves you, sweetie. Maybe it'll get better after Christmas."

"I hope so," Elizabeth sighed, "lets wrap the presents."

########################################################################

Lance gently tip-toed down the wooden stairs, his feet feeling chilled at the contact with the cold flooring. It was Christmas morning now and he was eager to see if Santa came. He had woken early today, it was five thirty in the morning, and the Finnleys were still asleep. Lance got to the bottom of the stairs and then slowly made his way towards the living room. The lights on the tree were shining brightly like little stars, alluminating the room with a soft light. First he saw the gifts the Finnleys got him, they were right under the tree were they put them. Then, he saw the little pile of gifts stcked on the coffee table and thatbthe stockings were full and his tiny, little heart soared.

He tried his best to contain himself but he let out a squeak like sound and a grin spread across his features. He had to tell the Finnleys. He ran back up the stairs, his feet stomping loudly against the wood. He could hardly contain their giggles as he quickly made his way to their room. Santa had came! He really did!

"Elizabeth! Ben!" Lance whispered excitedly as he climbed into their bed and crawled over to them. "Get up! Come on!" He shook their shoudlers.

It took a good fifteen minutes of shoulder shaking and some jumping on the bed, but he finally got the Finnleys up. His little face had an ever present grin and was full of joy and laughter. Lance was too excited and happy, he ran around and got the stockings down as soon as they made their way downstairs. It took some talking but they finally got him to calm down for a bit so they could get some coffee.

After some light whinning, they got their Christmas started and Lance couldn't possibly be happier.

################################################################################

Lance laid curled up in a blanket by the fireplace, eyes scanning through the book that the Finnleys had gotten him. He would read the one that Santa had gotten him next. He hadn't been this happy in a long time, he thought. Santa had gotten him some cool new books and toys and the Finnleys had gotten him new winter wear and two new books to read. He like the winter jacket they had gotten him. It was blue and blue was his favorite color so now it was his new, favorite jacket. The toys Santa got him were cool and the Finnleys said that he could keep them after his visit was over. It was cool because he knew the other kids in the home would like them to.

"You having a good Christmas, buddy?" Ben asked Lance with a smile.

"Mhm," Lance nodded up at him, "this is a real good book. The toys are are cool, plus my stocking was full of candy."

"Don't eat it all at once."

"I won't." Lance nodded before looking thoughtful. "I hope I get to come live with you guys. It's nice here and your nice. Are you going to adopt me?"

"We hope so, buddy." Ben grinned at the boy, his heart leaping in his chest.

"Good." Lance smiled and went back to his book. He hoped they got to adopt him, they acted like kids had told him that parents acted. He was pretty positive that Ben wasn't going to hurt him like... HE had. He liked the Finnleys, they made him feel very... at home, at least thats what he thought he was feeling.

##################################################################################

Lance made his way down the hall, his steps falling quickly and with purpose. He had to get to the Finnley's room. He had a nightmare again, which wasn't strange, persay, but this time he was more frightened then usual. When he had woken up it was dark, very dark, and it had been in his nightmare and he had broken out in a cold sweat as per usaul but he was glab he hadn't had a night terror. Lonely and slightly cold, Lance had laid there in the blanket terrified as felt the shadows on the walls start to creep on him as the walls seemed to shrink in on him. It was then that he decided to go to the Finnleys room.

They were asleep when he entered and when he crawled into bed with them, but as he lay there shaking with tears and fear, they woke up. Elizabeth rapped her arms around him and Ben rubbed his back and they cooed and comforted the shaking, stuttering, crying child that had tumbled into their bed.

"Mommy... Daddy..." The small, sniffling child in their arms whimpered, digging his head into Elizabeth's chest.

"We're here... we're here..." Elizabeth cooed softly at Lance.

"No one is going to hurt you, buddy... you're okay." Ben soothed Lance, kissing his hairline.

"I don't wanna leave here." Lance sniffled in their arms, finally calming down. "I like it here with you."

"Don't worry, buddy, we are going to adopt you. I promise." Ben smiled at him.

"Really?" Lance looked at him, hope shining through the fear in his round orbs he calls eyes.

"Yes." Ben nodded and Lance turned around he gave him a hug.

"Thank you..." Lance whispered and soon the little boy was peacefully sleeping without nightmares for the first time in a longtime.

**Author's Note:**

** Hey, look at me, finally updating. Yay me. And yay you guy, cause you get an update XD And because I took so long to update, you get a sneaky peak into the next chapter:**

_**"How did he do on his test, sir?" Elizabeth asked, looking at the counciler and the school principle.**_

_** "About that, Lance he, well he did... If I were you I would consider getting him tested-"**_

_** "Tested? My Lance is not a-"**_

_** "I know! That came out wrong! Look, Lance did extremely well on his tests. I think you should get his IQ tested. It appears there is a chance... well it appears that there is a chance that Lance is a genius."**_


	4. Chapter 4

Young Lance Sweets waited eagerly for the return of the Finnleys. Today they were signing the adoption papers and taking him away from this place forever. It had taken a little while for the adoption to be completed, something about parental rights and tracking down some-or-other. They had decided to leave it up to him if he wanted to keep his name or not, and he had decided to keep his name. He liked his name, it was his and liked it that way. He had all his stuff gathered and ready to go, he had said his good byes to his friends from foster care.

"Hello there, bud, ready to go?" Ben peeked into the room with a smile.

"Yes." Lance smiled and picked up his suitcase and bags.

"Here, let me help bud-"

"No, I got it." He said, dragging his things along.

"Okay then." Ben laughed as he opened the door for the stubborn six yearold.

"Thank you." The child huffed, blowing a hair out of his face as he dragged his bags. Elizabeth met them at the door.

"Oh, Dear, do you-"

"Don't ask." Ben warned her, giving a nod to the hard headed tot and shaking his head.

"They look so heavy." She whispered to her husband as Lance charged ahead, dragging his bags behind him.

"I know, but he is stubborn, dear, just let him be." Ben chuckled, putting an arm around her. They looked at Lance, who was dragging his bags across the parking lot with a look of intense deterimination on his face. It was almost adorable.

After watching Lance wrestle with his bags for fifteen minutes to get them into into the car, they finally left. No one really spoke but there was an untold energy of excitment vibrating through the cars inhabitants. Lance was getting a new home and the Finnleys were getting a child. It was almost like a dream, for all of them. After a few minutes they pulled in and Lance scrambled out of the car, leaving his bags behind. Ben grabbed his bags as Liz went and unlocked the door.

"I hope you don't mind, we had some friends of ours come over and help us redo your room when we found out the adoption was going to go through." Ben said as they walked through the house and to Lance's room. Lance trotted eagerly into his room.

The walls of the room were a shade darker then sky blue and the plain comforter was replaced with deep blue comforter with light blue polka-dots and there was a small, round, navy blue rug on the floor by a blue beanbag chair The desk/bookself had been filled with books. The room was still plain, but it was more certianly colorful and less guest-room-looking.

"We knew you liked blue, so we just went with it." Elizabeth smiled as Ben sat the childs bags down.

"I love it." Lance smiled, sitting down on his bed.

"We are going to leave you to get settled. Welcome home, buddy." Ben smiled and the couple left the child to himself, shutting the door behind them. Lance smiled and flopped back in bed and let the words 'welcome home', the words he had been waiting to hear most of his life, echo and bounce around in his skull. He was home. He had actually been adopted, it was real now. He lay there for who knows how long, letting that soak in before getting up and going over to put his clothes away.

He opened the closet to find hangers at the ready. Between the closet and the dresser, he had plenty of room for all the clothes. After putting his nicer clothes in the closet he put the rest in the dresser. Finally he dug into his little backpack. It was full of little knick-knacks and toys and he collected over the years. He began placing them on his little desk when he heard a tap tap tapping at the window.

"PSSTTTT! Sweets!" A vioce whispered and Lance jumped and went over to his window. There, sitting on a tree branch outside his window, was Kenny. He opened his window.

"What are you doing? Why are you calling me that?"

"I heard the Finnleys adopted you! Thats awesome, Sweets." The boys grinned.

"My name is Lance." He said, knitting his brows together.

"I know that but I dunno, Sweets just seems to fit you better." The other boy shrugged and Sweets pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Whatever, what do you want, Kenny?"

"I just wanted to see how you were getting settled, but my parents wouldn't let me come over so..."

"I get the picture." Lance rolled his eyes. "I'm fine, Kenny, now get down before you fall and kill yourself!"

"Oh fine, cool your jets, dude. Come over sometime and we can play. I can teach how to have fun." Kenny grinned, shimming down the tree.

"Sounds like a plan." Lance said before closing the window. That Kenny kid was weird.

##############################################################################

Little Lance sat outside of the counciler's office, bored out of his gord. The Finnely's decided to put him in a private school, they had the money sat aside in some bank account somewhere plus what Ben earned in his job, they were positive that they could pay for it. Granted, Ben only had a good five years left before he would have to retire out of need. After he had been forced to retire from his job as a school counsiler, he was still relitively fit and he got bored so he decided to start taking up home renavation prodjects which led him to the group of friends that he worked with now. They had known each other from school or lived in the same neighborhood at some piont so they would never force him to quit.

Lance couldn't help but feel bad when he thought of Ben's friends. He never had them over, and Lance knew why he didn't. Ben knows that he was a little squimish about new people, men in particular, so he hasn't been having over. He felt bad about that, who was he to stop Ben from having his friends over? He would have to talk about this with his child psychologist. He had been making progress since the Finnelys had taken interest in him. It was still slow, granted, he didn't want to discuss... _him _with some shrink. Nosey jerks, thats what shrinks were. Always trying to crawl up into his head. He hated it. Little Lance sighed and tipped his head back.

Meanwhile, in the principle's office...

"How did he do on his test, sir?" Elizabeth asked, looking at the counciler and the school principle.

"About that, Lance he, well he did... If I were you I would consider getting him tested-"

"Tested? My Lance is not a-"

"I know! That came out wrong! Look, Lance did extremely well on his tests. I think you should get his IQ tested. It appears there is a chance... well it appears that there is a chance that Lance is a genius."

"A genius?" Ben parroted with wide eyes.

"His tests seem to support that. We are recomending that Lance be placed two grade levels ahead." The counciler said, leaning back in his chair.

"You want to put Lance in the third grade?" Elizabeth asked, her eyes as wide as her husband's.

"Yes, from the looks of his tests he can handle it." The other man said. "I do seriously recemend that you have his IQ tested."

"We will concider it." Elizabeth nodded. She was shocked, to say the least. She knew her little Lance was smart but this, this was amazing. It felt surreal, dream-like.

##################################################################################

Lance sighed, looking up from his book and up into the tree he was reading under.

_IQ of 144_

Thats what the IQ tests came up with. He wasn't a super genius, but he made the cut. He could be in Mensa if he wanted. He was a genius. It wasn't something he expected. He always felt a little different from the other kids but this... wasn't anything like he ever thought possible. He was six years old and starting the third grade in just a few short months. It was unreal.

Suddenly, his state of thought was broken when a soccer ball hit him.

"OW!" Sweets screeched, glaring at the ball.

"Hey, Sweets!" Bob shouted, waving at him from his spot by Kenny.

"That's not my name!" Lance groaned, picking up the ball and walking over to the strange duo.

"Don't care." Bob snorted.

"It fits you." Kenny assured Sweets. "Sweets. You look like a Sweets."

"Fine." Sweets rolled his eyes. "You lost your ball?"

"Sorry about that." Kenny grinned sheepishly, taking the ball back. "You wanna play?"

"Oh- I mean I never really..."

"We are just kicking it around, come on, it'll be fun." Kenny gave Lance hopeful look.

"I... guess it couldn't hurt." He smiled, shuffling a foot.

"Awesome." Bob grinned, giving him a thumbs up.

"Let's do it!" Kenny laughed, tossing up the ball.

##################################################################################

Lance glared foreward at the man in front of him. His shrink. The older man simply smiled back at him, like he wasn't the most adgitating man on the planet. Lance hated this man.

"So... your parents tell me you are making some friends." The man said, leaning forward.

"They aren't my friends. We play soccer sometimes but I wouldn't say we are friends. So what?" Lance crossed his arms.

"So, you are starting to reconnect to the world, thats good."

"And I need to do that why?"

"Because, Lance, you can't go through life with no friends."

"I can try." Lance snapped, tossing his head to the side.

"Now, you don't mean that. If you did, you wouldn't be interacting with those neighborhood boys." He said, but Lance just blew him off. "I hear you got some news resently."

"Yup. I'm a certified genius."

"Thats great."

"If you say so." Lance said just as Elizabeth walked in to pick Lance up.

"How did it go today?" She asked, taking Lance's hand as he stood up.

"Good. He didn't even kick me in the shins this time." The shrink smiled at her.

"That's great." She smiled, walking her boy out. "What did you talk about today with the therapist, sweetie?"

"Just stuff." Lance mumbled, looking at the ground.

"Have you talked with him about your nightmares?" She asked softly, giving him a concerned look.

"No."

"You have to talk about, baby, or you won't get better."

"I know that..." He grumbled, kicking a foot out. "I will when I'm ready."

"And when will that be?" She asked and he shrugged in response. "Thats what I thought."

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

** Here's a little something. XD And yes, Sweets doesn't like psychology. Not yet. He still has a few obsticles to come over and others will develop as well XD He will figured it out by the time he applie to college XD lol**

** But yeah, silly little chapter here. Up next, the start of the school year and some other stuff. **

** REVIEW MY DUCKS. PLEASE. PRETTY PLEASE!**


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